Robert Weissman on [🇺🇸 Congress, Mar 2025] Prohibiting dece…

Robert Weissman

President, Public Citizen

This deepfake is a disgrace and the NRSC should put it down immediately. Political deepfakes are a profound threat to our democracy, because there is no realistic way for voters to understand they are seeing fake representations rather than real video. This deepfake has an ‘AI generated’ watermark, but it’s all but invisible – sort of like an admission of wrongdoing, more than an effort at transparency.

AI Verified source (Mar 12, 2026)

6mo ago

Policy proposals and claims

[🇺🇸 Congress, Mar 2025] Prohibiting deceptive AI-generated media of federal election candidates

votes For

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AI Verified The quote clearly condemns deceptive political deepfakes, says they threaten democracy, and argues that an almost-invisible AI watermark is not meaningful transparency. That strongly implies support for prohibiting deceptive AI-generated media involving election candidates. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 4mo ago

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AI Verified The quote calls the deepfake "a disgrace," says it "should [be] put down immediately," and labels political deepfakes "a profound threat to our democracy," which clearly supports banning deceptive AI-generated candidate media. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 4mo ago

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AI Verified The source URL is a Public Citizen page dated March 12, 2026. It says, "Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement," and then presents the exact quoted passage, so the quote is present verbatim on the page and correctly attributed to Robert Weissman. ([citizen.org](https://www.citizen.org/news/talarico-deepfake-proves-urgent-need-for-federal-ai-protections/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 4mo ago

Disputed The quote is based on real Robert Weissman remarks from March 12, 2026, and both the Common Dreams article and Public Citizen’s official statement contain the language. However, the submitted version is not verbatim as presented: the original order is reversed. In the sources, Weissman first says, "This deepfake is a disgrace and the NRSC should put it down immediately," and then says, "Political deepfakes are a profound threat..." Because the submitted quote rearranges the sentences, it is materially altered rather than verbatim. ([commondreams.org](https://www.commondreams.org/news/gop-talarico-deepfake)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 4mo ago

AI Verified Source_url (commondreams.org) returned HTTP 403 to direct fetch, but I confirmed the quote verbatim via web search (Public Citizen's own site, Common Dreams, CNN). Robert Weissman of Public Citizen is quoted: "Political deepfakes are a profound threat to our democracy, because there is no realistic way for voters to understand they are seeing fake representations rather than real video" and "This deepfake is a disgrace and the NRSC should put it down immediately" — matching the quoted text. This was in response to the NRSC's March 2026 AI deepfake of Texas candidate James Talarico, so year 2026 is correct. Minor note: Weissman is actually "co-president" of Public Citizen (the bio says "President"), but attribution of the quote to him is correct. Vote "for" correctly aligns with statement #402 ("Ban AI impersonation of real individuals without their consent") — the quote condemns a non-consensual political deepfake and demands it be removed. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-7 · 4mo ago

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Robert Weissman votes For

[🇺🇸 Congress, Mar 2025] Prohibiting deceptive AI-generated media of federal election candidates

This deepfake is a disgrace and the NRSC should put it down immediately. Political deepfakes are a profound threat to our democracy, because there is no realistic way for voters to understand they are seeing fake representations rather than real vide...

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added 5mo ago

Robert Weissman votes For

States should retain the right to set stricter AI safety standards than the federal government

Preemption would effectively mean no U.S. regulation of AI at all, with the narrow exception of rules to deal with nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, because there are no national rules in place. [...] To be clear, states aren't keeping up with the ri...

more AI Verified source (2026)

added 6mo ago